Why do you pick him?
by xshirochan10
Summary: Makoto finds out about what's going on with Haru, and doesn't seem to know a way to handle the news.


Disclaimer: I don't own free! or any of its characters ;u;  
A/N: please bear with me, especially the first part of this; I wrote this at like 5 am, so whatever I did, it's not my fault. I know, it still is, ugh. So here's a bit of MakoHaru for you guys, I hope you'll enjoy it. And please don't tell me the characters are ooc cause that'd be exactly what I was afraid of. It's not that easy to write for an anime with only like 5 episodes out until now, you know? Okay, so enough of my useless talk, enjoy~ ^.^

Walking up the staircase, Makoto was looking at the bright blue sky, and sighed. He walked up to the front door of the house he arrived at and rang the door bell. Patiently, he waited for five straight minutes. "The bath again, Haru?" he sighed, as he decided to look if the back door was opened. It was.  
He went into the house and walked up to the bathroom, carefully knocking at the door before entering. "Morning, Haru-chan," he greeted and smiled at the dark haired male in the bathtub. Said boy drowsily raised his head and took the hand, which the olive haired boy had reached out for him. "I told you to get rid of the '-chan'," he went, and grabbed a towel near him. "Yeah, yeah," Makoto laughed and went ahead into the hallway, after shooting the shorter male one last glance.  
He went over into the kitchen and sat down onto one of the chairs. He had to stretch out his legs under the table, since he was too tall – and his legs too long – to do otherwise. He rested his head on his hands, staring into space, while thinking. Just as he did only a few minutes ago, he sighed. 'He's still taking his baths with his swim suit on, huh...' Makoto tiredly smiled, and slowly scratched the back of his head. Even if he sometimes pretended to make fun of that fact, it still was just that – an act. If he was actually being honest, he liked that Haruka wasn't bathing, well, naked. If he did, then he would probably not be allowed to just walk up to him. And that part of the day, was definitely one of his favorite ones. Not to forget that Haru really did look beautiful that way. Even if the taller boy saw him like that every day, being with him alone, was somehow more special to him. As he realized that, a long time ago, he had to admit to himself, that he had developed feelings for the dark haired boy that went way beyond friendship.  
Makoto sighed again. Why had his life to be so complicated? When did it even become like that?

"We have to go to school now, are you coming?" Startled, as if the other boy had heard his thoughts, Makoto got up.  
"I'm coming, sorry for making you wait, Haru." He smiled, the touch of bitterness in his voice almost inaudible.

Their day at school went as it always did, calm and full of Nagisa's laughter, Rei's comments about beauty and Makoto's secret glances towards Haruka. He himself, on the other hand, spent his day looking outside the classroom window, watching the ocean.  
"Oh how I wish you would look at me like you do at the water...just once..." Makoto heard himself whispering, casting down his eyes, fixing his look on the doodle of a dolphin, which he had scribbled down during algebra.

After swim practice was over, and Makoto had stayed half an hour after the training's end, to watch his best friend swim in the school's outdoor pool, the two of them walked down the street side by side, silently.  
"So...Haru," the taller male spoke up "do you have any plans this weekend? Cause we all wanted to meet up and do a barbeque or–"  
"I don't have time this weekend."  
"O-oh?" Blushing, Makoto shrugged at the quick reply. "I-is that so..."  
The dark haired boy mutely nodded, and turned his head away from his friend.  
"Well...do you mind me coming over for a few more minutes then?" He hesitated before asking timidly, the look in his brown eyes shyly fixed on the other one's blue ones.  
"A-actually...I can't. Sorry..." Haruka blushed and turned away from the other once again.  
"Hm," Makoto sighed, faking a smile to hide his disappointment, "I'll see you tomorrow morning then, Haru-chan." He waved with one of his hands, then turned around, making his way home. As he tried not to look as depressed as he felt, he didn't see the smaller boy's look in his back, instead of the water.

When he finally got home, he managed not to be caught by his younger siblings, knowing that they would not like to see him upset. The tall boy threw himself on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He didn't realize he was still doing the exact same thing, when his phone started ringing, twenty minutes later.

"Yeah?"  
"H-hi! Uh...I'm calling cause of the barbeque..."  
"Kou?" He raised his voice, as he noticed the sleepiness in his own voice.  
"Yes? Well, anyways, I asked my brother if he'd like to join us, but he refused. He even replied to my messages, kind of weird...but still, let's have fun!" 'Probably to prevent you from showing up at his school and dragging him here,' the club's manager thought amused.  
"Oh okay, yeah. Haru can't come either, he's busy this weekend. But don't worry about it, we'll enjoy our time just by the five of us as well."  
"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow!"

The swim club's manager ended the call soon, and the olive haired boy let go of his phone, only to make it fall off his bed, onto the floor. He took a deep breath before saying the thought, which had occupied his mind for the whole phone call, out loud. "So Rin's busy as well, huh? This is no coincidence... " he pressed his eyes closed. "I knew this was going to happen...why am I this surprised?" He covered his face with both of his hands and let his shoulders shake as much as they wanted to. He didn't care. He was allowed to cry, after all. "Why do you have to pick Rin, Haru?" he whispered in a depressed tone, and turned around on his bed, burying his face in the pillow. "Haru..."

It took Makoto a while to decide what to do. He continued lying on his bed, face down, hiding his miserable glare deep in the cushions. He had thought about a lot in the past hour. Mostly about his best friend, obviously. He thought about what he loved about Haruka. He loved the way he always stared at the ocean, or water in general, of course, it made him just slightly jealous, but he could live with that, at least until now. He loved the way he always reminded him of not adding '-chan' to his name, the smile that was to find when he did so, knowingly that he was the only person to just get away with a glance like that. And he loved the tone of Haru's voice in those rare occasions when he did decide to say something. All those things didn't make him as happy as they usually did though. "Dammit Haru..." he sighed. All those years...ever since their childhood, the two of them had been the best of friends, Makoto had always been at the other one's side, they had always had that mutual understanding that didn't require any words. So why did it have to be Rin?  
The olive haired male sat up rather abruptly. He straightened his shirt, and put on his usual smile as he sneaked around his siblings, out of the house.

He reached the other boy's house way too fast. Taking a deep breath, he hesitated to ring the door bell. What if he was wrong? Maybe his assumption was just nonsense that his brain had produced due to himself being disappointed in Haru refusing to meet up with them, and even not wanting to have him over. Maybe he just wanted to do his homework in peace...  
That very moment, he heard a deep laugh. Muffled sounds rang out of the house, and Makoto's heart started beating faster and faster. That voice definitely didn't belong to Haru. "R-Rin?" he heard himself whisper. Before he even knew it, he slowed down his steps with which he had been approaching the door. He listened. "...yeah whatever, Haru, just get here already," he heard, followed by the sound of someone sitting down. The tall male at the door exhaled audibly and nervously ran his hand through his brownish hair. Without realizing he moved, Makoto walked around the house, over to the back door. He pressed his back against the cold wall of the building, peeking around the corner inside the house. He gasped. What he saw, was a muscular boy with dark purple hair, raising himself from the living room couch, walking over to the kitchen. "Oi, Haru, I won't wait here forever, y'know," he heard the familiar voice speak up. He watched the young man entering the kitchen and disappearing from his field of vision.  
As if on its own, Makoto's head was torn around. He was gasping for air, not being able to comprehend what he had just witnessed. "W-why...Haru..." he breathed.  
When his gaze returned to the inside of the room, he saw nothing else than his own best friend being pushed against a wall near the couch, and Rin, covering the other one's mouth with his own, hastily pushing his hands under the shirt of his friend. Both were visibly panting, when Rin finally let go of Haru, but only to rip off his own shirt, before going over to undo the other's belt. That was when Makoto finally moved. He stumbled backwards; hit a flowerpot, the contents soon covering the floor at his feet. The inside of the house went silent at the sound. The gazes of both boys indoor turned to look for the source of the sound, and then too soon fixed on the male standing outside. Makoto saw Rin's eyebrows rise in surprise, and Haru's eyes widen in shock. The olive haired one stopped breathing. He turned around and started running. And he didn't stop until he reached his room, and safely ending up on his bed, hiding his flushed face in his pillow, once again. He didn't dare to move even one inch for the rest of the day.

Later that night, he heard a quiet knock at the door. The door was cautiously opened, and the head of his little brother popped into the room. "H-Haru called!" The little one called out, making Makoto's heart skip a beat. "He did?" he asked, causing his brother's small head to nod violently. "He asked to talk to you," the brown haired his said "but he never calls, why did he call?" "I don't know," the older one spoke, faking a smile for his sibling. "Go and help with dinner, I'll be right there, I'm just going to call Haru first," he lied.

The next morning, Makoto found himself sitting on the staircase in front of Haru's house. Even though he couldn't just walk to school by himself, being the loyal friend he was, he didn't dare to even knock on his friend's door. How was he supposed to act? He couldn't just pretend that nothing happened. Had he actually destroyed their friendship? What was he supposed to–

"What are you doing out here, Mako?" The sitting boy flinched in surprise. He turned around, only to see his friend's deep blue orbs stare at him.  
"I– I'm sorry...I-I didn't know whether it would be okay for me to come here, I–"  
"You could've just come in, like you usually do..."  
"E-eh? W-wha– I-I'm sorry, Haru... I didn't want to..."  
"Hm?" The other looked up to the taller male. "Oh. That..."  
"I- didn't know it's like that, I'm really sorry...I hope..." his voice broke down, and he covered his face with both his hands, turning his head away from his friend.  
"You don't have to worry about that. I took care of it."  
"Wh-what?" Makoto hesitantly peeked out from beneath his hands. Then, before Haruka could answer, he made a decision. "I– Haru?" He swallowed.  
"Yes?" Makoto smiled tiredly. 'Why do your eyes have to be that beautiful...'  
"I– am really sorry about yesterday...I didn't want to...disturb you." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Although...it did hurt."  
"H-huh?" The water loving boy's eyes went even wider than before. "What do you mean?"  
"I," Makoto began "I like you, Haru." Blushing, he turned away his head, facing the plants beside the stairs. "I'm so sorry," he added.  
He didn't get an answer at first. The other must be shocked. Or maybe he just saw some pool of water from the rain on the day before and his attention got caught by it. When he shyly checked on him, he met exactly those blue eyes, he had thought about so much. "H-Haru? I'm sorry..."  
"I didn't know that...I– I like you too," he heard the dark haired boy whisper. Makoto's eyes widened in surprise, while his heart began to beat even faster than before. "Y-you do?"  
The shorter boy slightly nodded and turned his face into the other direction, seemingly ashamed. "But what– about Rin?"  
He received a sigh. "I...don't like him...like that." He blushed even more.  
That very second, the taller of the two stopped thinking, he cautiously touched his friend's cheek, and carefully turned the other male's head into his direction. "Thank you, Haru..." he whispered to the shorter boy's lips, before slowly closing the distance between them.


End file.
